Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Kyiv in the evening. The visitors from the United States were “talking with the President at that moment,” said Zelenskyy’s adviser Oleksiy Arestovich in an interview on the video platform YouTube.
According to Zelensky, the talks with Blinken and Austin were about US arms supplies for the Ukrainian armed forces. Arestovich reiterated that the ministers would not have come unless they were “ready” to make further supplies. Late in the evening, Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter that “US-Ukrainian friendship and partnership is stronger than ever.” The US State Department declined to provide any information about the trip.
Blinken and Austin’s visit coincided with the celebration of Orthodox Easter in many places yesterday despite ongoing Russian attacks. “Our souls are filled with fierce hatred for the invaders and everything they did,” Zelenskyy said, adding, “Don’t let anger destroy us from within.”